Baby Principality
by Velgamidragon
Summary: COMPLETED. It has been a long time since a new nation was born in Europe. Centuries even. But that changes suddenly when Hungary and Austria unexpectedly find themselves as future parents to the child that will be born to them as the Principality of Liechtenstein.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: As some of you may be aware, I'd mentioned before that I was going to make a fic that detailed my headcanons surrounding Liechtenstein's birth. Well, I actually managed to get around to it. I've been working on this off and on for the past several months before I'd even _started_ working on Parents of a Micronation. Once again, this story was too long to leave as a oneshot, so it's broken up into a few chapters, only three this time.**

**Disclaimer: The idea for this is mine and it is fully a product of my imagination and research, though I am playing around with the concept and the characters that Himaruya-san created.**

* * *

Baby Principality

_late March to late-April, 1718_

Hungary was never an emotionally-restrained woman. She knew how to be tactful and restrain herself when she absolutely had to, sure, but never out of habit or casual fashion, and certainly not to the extreme of appearing as emotional as a rock, like _he_ could. However, in all the many centuries of having known Hungary, Austria had never known her emotional state to swing to such sharp, drastic extremes as he had seen the past few weeks and that was saying something. Last week for example, she had actually snapped at Romano, a rare occurrence in itself seeing as how she only ever really got vocally-angry with Bohemia, and sometimes Slovak and Croatia, and then instantly dissolved into tearful apologies seconds later. And then earlier this morning, she accidentally dropped some of the dishes and broke them (a common enough occurrence with both Italy and Romano living with them), but with the hysterical manner in which she was acting, one might have thought she'd accidentally killed a small child instead.

She was alright most of the time, but these violent mood swings were starting to really worry Austria. At first he'd thought that she might be showing strange symptoms for some illness, but when he'd checked up on her economy, he couldn't find anything _particularly_ unusual to cause such behavior that wasn't normal for post-war times what with him having finished actually _fighting_ the Ottoman Empire again since August of 1717 after capturing Belgrade (and to think that he'd originally intervened just to protect Italy). He prayed this wasn't some weird latent side effect she was experiencing; he'd fought too hard to have her living with him when she _should_ have been entirely his from the beginning. If that Ottoman hadn't gotten in his way, she wouldhave been… But that wasn't the only thing unusual either as of late though. She'd been having strange cravings too; any combination of Italian, Swiss, and German food, she'd probably eaten it; especially a lot of cheese and even some French food. Hungary had never been an exclusive cheese eater before, and there were a few foods from his own home that she had practically begged him to have, even though he knew for a fact that she had never much cared for them before. And he was absolutely thunderstruck when the last time she made her famous goulash, the usually-spicy food was super mild in comparison.

Austria figured that something definitely had to be wrong with her, but he had no clue what or even how to bring up the conversation topic to his lover; not if he wanted to remain in one piece, that is. He'd just gotten back on her good side again after the Kuruc Rebellion seven years ago and he wasn't so keen to fight her again. In her unstable emotional state, she could easily rend him to pieces. He also knew that Hungary was not irrational and that she had reasons for everything, even if he didn't understand them. He reasoned that whatever was bothering her to cause this change would either make itself clear from within her land or that she would tell him about it in due time. She trusted him enough to do that, right?

An entire month after these strange behaviors started and nothing had changed. No, they hadn't gotten worse, but neither had they gotten better and Austria was worried about Hungary more than ever now. He _couldn't_ be the only person who had noticed! No, he knew he wasn't; even Bohemia, who Hungary got along with about as well as Wallachia, moved out of Hungary's way when she was near. He had no choice now; he had to ask Hungary what was going on, regardless of how she might react.

"Liebling, (1) is everything okay?" he asked her softly one evening as he held her in his arms and absent-mindedly brushed one hand through her thick wavy locks.

"Hm? What do you mean, kedvesem? (2) You were wonderful as usual," she murmured sleepily as she cuddled up against his bare chest.

"You haven't been yourself lately," Austria continued as a treacherous blush spread through his cheeks, "Your diet changes with the day and you hardly seem to know who you are sometimes. The meeting I have planned with Ottoman Empire in July isn't a problem for you, is it?"

"Austria, love, you make no sense right now," she complained and stretched her limber body up against his, teasing him the devilish woman, "Of course you meeting that Ottoman hunk isn't a problem for me. Now sleep dear; you're too tired for your own good."

_ Somehow_ he'd managed to fall asleep that night (no thanks to Hungary), though not without the sinking feeling that even if he asked her tomorrow morning, he wouldn't get much more insight into her behavior than what he'd already gotten that night. He would have to ask somebody else, his humans, and hope that they had some sort of logical, simple insight as to why Hungary was behaving so oddly.

()()()()()()()

_late-April, 1718_

He figured the first person to ask would be his boss's wife, Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. It was better to ask a woman's opinion regarding another woman's behavior, was it not? They seemed to know things about each other that men like him simply couldn't comprehend.

"Uztryk! Uztryk!" (3)

Austria paused mid-stride and turned around to see Countess Marie Karoline von Fuchs-Mollard carrying the longest-surviving offspring of his current ruling bosses thus far, Maria Theresa, and it was she, a little over a year old, who was calling out to him as best she could with her limited speaking ability.

"Good morning Marie Karoline and how is my little archduchess today? Healthy and lively, I see," Austria said, unable to keep himself from smiling at the small girl as he lifted her with ease out of her governess's arms and she hugged his neck. He loved the little girl, he really did. It was only a pity that her older brother hadn't even lived to see his first year. Perhaps her new sibling on the way would be a brother and resolve the issue he would face if the direct line didn't have a male heir, despite Charles VI's obsession with his Pragmatic Sanction. He didn't want what happened to Spain earlier in the century to happen to him too.

"And a good morning to you as well, my Archduchy," Marie Karoline responded politely, "Maria Theresa has taken such a liking to you that as soon as she saw you, she just had to come and say hello."

"Well, it brings me great joy to see her smiling and happy. Now I have to go find your mother my young Fraülein. Be good for Frau von Fuchs-Mollard," Austria said as he handed his heiress presumptive back to her governess and set off to find the girl's mother after dismissing himself. It didn't take much more searching on his part before he finally found her.

"Elisabeth Christine, can you spare a moment?" he asked as he approached the _very_ pregnant woman.

"I suppose so, Austria, though it'd probably be better if you sought out Charles rather than me for what you want to discuss."

"No, I don't need to speak with His Imperial Majesty this time; I truly do need _your _advice."

"Oh? How unusual for someone like you. Proceed then and I shall do my best to answer," Elisabeth Christine replied

"You're a woman, Christine. Do you understand why Hungary has been suffering from such violent mood swings and a serious change in diet?" Austria asked her bluntly and to the point, because really, there was simply no other way of putting it.

The Empress's brows furrowed slightly and then she raised her eyebrows, almost in amusement. "You haven't guessed yet?" she asked.

Austria frowned. The way she worded the question made it seem like the answer should be slapping him in the face, but no answers were coming to mind. He shook his head. "No, how could I have?"

"I'm shocked that at your age, you haven't ever noticed, and I'm a perfect example right now," the Queen Consort said with some concern as she rested her hand upon her swollen stomach. "Austria, Hungary is pregnant."

Austria completely blanked out. "… ?"

"As I stated just now, I don't know how you couldn't know, being so old and having had to deal with too many pregnancies to count, but I suppose you may not have ever noticed too much seeing as how it never affected you personally until now; but she's pregnant, I thought that was obvious. The unexplained mood swings and the cravings for different foods for no explainable reason; though it seems that particular aspect is more extreme for you nation-people. I take it she hasn't been suffering from morning sickness or you'd probably have figured it out real quick. Some women just don't get it, so that doesn't surprise me- Austria, what's wrong?"

Austria's brain had stopped working was what was wrong. Pregnant? As in a baby? A new _nation_?! But that-! That just... _didn't_ happen! Okay, that was unreasonable to say; it _did_ happen or he and the others like him wouldn't have been born, but that was ages ago! And he and Hungary had been together well… intimately for nearly twenty years since the evening of the Treaty of Karlowitz. Nations don't suddenly get _pregnant_ out of the blue, so randomly! That wouldn't make any sense!

"But Hungary, she..." Austria stumbled over his words, not quite sure what he wanted to say, but needing to say _something_, "She never... never mentioned..."

"Austria...," Elisabeth Christine said softly, "Did it ever occur to you that perhaps Hungary doesn't know either?"

It _hadn't_ occurred to him. "But how? ! !" he protested, "The woman always knows first, I _know_ that much!"

Elisabeth Christine looked hard-pressed not to laugh at his distress, but she managed somehow. "We _know_, Austria, because we feel the baby moving about inside of us about three or four months in. Hungary's still very early on, so it's a real possibility that Hungary doesn't know she's pregnant. I must confess, I've never heard of a nation being born; this isn't a common thing I suppose."

"No... it's not... Not at all..." Austria admitted, feeling in dire need of a chair and a beer and fast, "It used to be more so a long time ago, but not anymore. She won't believe me."

"Well, I wish you luck, then," Elisabeth Christine said with a sympathetic smile.

()()()()()()()

_8 June, 1718_

Austria knew that this would not be an easy discussion to have with his lover simply for the very _nature _of the subject, but neither was it easy for him to figure out how to bring it up. How did one, especially a man, start up a conversation about a baby nation growing inside a clueless woman? At the rate he was going though, it'd be three months after conception because then her pregnancy would start showing and then Hungary would figure it out. Or would she? This was _Hungary_ he was dealing with; Hungary who'd believed for centuries that she was a boy, even after finally reaching adulthood. No, of all people, she _wouldn't _be able to figure it out. He'd agonize over the woman's cluelessness, except that he was hardly one to talk. He'd failed to realize that Italy was a boy until Italy had finally grown-up and his voice had broke immediately following his own divorce with Spain and taking custody over Romano earlier this century.

It was fortunate for him that he never did have to figure out how to bring up the awkward matter from scratch. Hungary initiated it without even realizing it. It was early June, and it had been quite warm all week and aided by the long summer hours, it had prompted quite a tranquil, relaxing atmosphere for the residents. Austria and Hungary had even taken the month off just to spend some time in Hungary's countryside. Italy had wanted to come with them, but they'd told him to take his older brother and visit their homeland instead. They loved Italy; apart from some of their boss's children (certainly not all), Italy was the closest they'd ever had to a child (until now it seemed), but they really didn't want a clothing-is-optional Italian walking in on them in the middle of the night, which had a very real chance of happening if they didn't take precautions.

It was June 8 when the subject was brought up at long last.

The first thing Austria noticed upon entering their room was how beautiful she was. He knew this and there wasn't a single part of her body that he didn't intimately know, yet he was still stunned speechless at the breathtaking vision before him. Hungary was standing nude before the mirror, her clothes discarded upon the floor in an almost artistic manner, her hands splayed upon her skin as she rubbed them slowly over her stomach, hips, and thighs in a rather sensual fashion. When she turned slightly for a different angle, her wavy brown hair swayed with the movement like a long curtain against her back and even that subtle shift didn't give him a better view of the full breasts hidden by the several thick strands that cascaded tantalizingly down her shoulders. And the summer sunset light that entered into the room and cast its warm orange glow upon her naked form only made the scene even more picturesque. But this wasn't anything new or particularly enlightening to him. Admittedly, he had seen many beautiful women of the courts (both at his own and at those of other countries) that Hungary couldn't compete with, yet in her own way, she far surpassed them all. Kingdom though she was, she was not born for the structured, sometimes-stifling, and enclosed atmosphere of the royal courts that Austria had become accustomed to, despite his own lowly and rather rough, rural beginnings. She was a wild and free-spirited woman and neither expensive frills nor fancy lace could ever capture that natural, rugged beauty of hers that so enticed him.

"Like what you see, kedvesem?" Hungary said, startling him from his thoughts. She had noticed him from the reflection in the mirror and she was smirking at him through it.

"Yes, very much, indeed," Austria replied as he leaned against the door frame and smiled at her, feeling awfully-hot and considered whether he wanted to strip himself, since he wasn't going to be able to enjoy the pleasure of doing so to her, or let her strip him anyway because she liked it.

"Weeeeeell, then what are you doing way over there when what you want is over here?" she asked as she reached up to the base of her neck with both hands and slowly lifted her hair up into an informal ponytail to show off both her exposed back and neck; an invitation and he was not one to refuse.

It was her way of surrendering. Being the warrior that she had grown up to be, she'd learned to think of her back as an unprotected blind spot, so by her allowing him to come up from behind her at all, much less embrace her, she had to place her complete trust in him, and he'd known for a long time that she did. It was also one of the games they played, for just because she _surrendered _to him didn't mean that she was just going to roll over in submission, something he rather enjoyed. The first several times they'd made love, they'd been violently-passionate animals heavy in heat and driven by an all-consuming need, but over time, they'd gradually figured out their love game and how to draw out their pleasure for as long as possible.

Austria pushed himself off the wall and casually made his way over to her. When he was right behind her, he placed first his fingers on the base of her neck and then pressed his palms onto her shoulders, rubbing them back and forth and kneading the taught muscles. Hungary hummed in content and fell back against him, his own body holding her up, but he didn't mind because that was always when she started threading her fingers through his dark hair, and it never failed to send tingling sensations down his spine.

"What exactly were you doing before I walked in, anyway?" Austria asked out of interest.

"Hm? Oh. Nothing" Her reply was… a little too short compared to normal Hungary sentences, even when he _wasn't_ in the process of seducing and arousing her.

"'Nothing'?" he said, slightly incredulously, but he was careful to keep his tone even, "It's not like you to look at yourself in the mirror like that for 'nothing'. You're not becoming vain like France, are you?"

"What?! Nem, nem, _nem_! (4) God forbid!" Hungary protested vehemently.

"So then what were you doing since it very clearly wasn't 'nothing'?" Austria repeated as he let his right hand slip away from her shoulders and press into the smooth skin beneath her arm, trailing a pattern _just_ around her breasts and down her stomach when he suddenly felt her tense and heard her draw a sharp intake of breath, and they weren't the good kind either.

"Hungary, what is it?" he asked suddenly, full of nothing but intense concern and withdrawing away so that he could turn her around for a more critical, health-concerned look, but she was resistant.

"Austria, it's nothing!" Hungary protested, not willing to let him turn her around, "You just applied a little too much pressure is all."

"Hungary, you've known me long enough to know that _that_ was hardly _any_ pressure compared to what I've done to you before, now let me see you already."

His fear and stubbornness overpowered her own reluctance and stubbornness, and she relented, standing in solemn silence as he experimentally-pressed, much softer this time, against her stomach with his fingers and his light probing eventually outlined the very faint but solid protrusion of her pregnancy.

"Ohh, I see now…" he said softly.

"Oh you do, do you? I suppose you're going to tell me this is normal, right?" she asked and he was so enthralled with what was finally visible proof of his Empress Consort's declaration that he failed to hear the sharpness in her tone.

"Of course this is normal, Hungary!" Austria exclaimed as he stood up straight and beamed at her. "I just can't believe this actually happened to us," he said as he made to bring his fingers through her hair, but he was unexpectedly stopped short. Hungary, still not looking up and her bangs shadowing her eyes, had snapped her arm up from her side and grabbed his wrist in a tight vice grip. Austria frowned slightly. "Hungary?"

"So that's how it is then," she said in a low, rather surly, "After all this time, you finally, _finally_ show your true colors, and really I should have expected it. You've been well-groomed into the position of an aristocrat and a powerful European nation, it must be difficult to not maintain the same standards as the humans since such behavior can be _much _more easily afforded by the upper class." Austria had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. "So," she said with an air of finality and lifted her head; her expression was resolute, but he could feel her anger emanating out from the depths of those magnificent green eyes. What had he done to tick her off this time? "Since it seems that I can no longer satisfy you, who shall you bed in my stead? Southern Netherlands might be willing since she preferred your rule to Spain's because of your religious tolerance or maybe even Bohemia would do. I imagine it wouldn't be the first time either, since it doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out how _you _ended up with Silesia even though it's part of _her_ Crownlands."

"_What?!_" Austria exclaimed, _very _confused and his face as red as could be. "Hungary, _what_ are you even going on about?! And what do either Southern Netherlands or Bohemia have _anything_ to do with our baby?"

Hungary's grip on his wrist didn't loosen, but the near-murderous aura that she was emitting ceased almost instantly and the hardness was gone from her eyes. She blinked once. Twice. Furrowed her brow in confusion and said, "Baby…? What baby?"

"Ours. The one growing here," Austria explained upon grasping her other hand with his own free one and leading it to her stomach.

"Mi?" (5) Hungary demanded and Austria was put on alert when she slipped into her native language as well as released his hand and jerked away from him. She looked not at all pleased, but rather confused and scared, and her tone had a touch of desperation, "Nem, ne tréfálj valami ilyesmi! Ez nem vicces!" (6)

"Hungary, you know I'm not one for jokes, especially about a serious topic like this," he responded calmly, though internally he was wondering why this was so shocking to her. She was three months in and the beginning of her pregnancy was finally visible; how could she _still_ not know?

"De-! Nicsak Ausztria!" (7) she said, though seemingly more to herself like she was trying to get a grip on the situation. "Tudomásul veszem, hogy én vagyok a nő," she said slowly, "de én ne képes egy _anya_! Ez lehetetlen!" (8)

"Hungary, it's not impossible, it's true!" Austria countered and moved quickly to embrace her to both calm her down from her panic and give her something solid to reorient herself against, "And you'll be a great mother, Hungary. You've already proven that with Italy and… and Holy Rome too while he was with us. It'll be no different raising this one except that we'll be its true parents and not its adoptive ones."

"N-nem különbség," (9) she murmured quietly and gripped the fabric of his shirt in a tight fist.

"Right. No difference," he reassured her, closing his eyes in relief and kissing the top of her head.

"So, I'm _not_ just suddenly starting to gain weight and become fat."

"Um… no, Hungary. Definitely not," Austria said and though it somehow didn't surprise him that Hungary had mistaken her pregnancy for irregular weight gain (because this was Hungary after all), he was at least relieved that she was back to speaking in German again. It was a sign of her return to mental and emotional stability. However… "But you should know that even if you were, I did not spend nearly 280 years of my life fighting to have you live with me just to ditch you twenty years later because of possibly-unattractive weight gain. Imádlak túl sokat, Magyarország." (10)

"Ich liebe dich auch, Österreich. Danke mein liebe. (11) I'm sorry that I killed the mood you were creating earlier," Hungary said with a sigh as her fingers fiddled around restlessly with the fabric of his shirt.

"Nonsense," Austria said firmly as he pulled back from her and caught her fingers within his. "I'm glad that it was ruined by our precious little one within you then by something far more trivial and ridiculous. For that, I think we can cheat just this once," he suggested, bringing her fingers to his lips for a light kiss and then edging them tantalizingly-close to the mole on his jaw. Hungary hardly needed any further prompting.

* * *

_(1) liebling (German) – darling_

_(2) kedvesem (Hungarian) – my dear_

_(3) Uztryk – what I imagine would be a child's attempt to_ _say_ _'Österreich'_

_(4) Nem (Hungarian) – No_

_(5) Mi? (Hungarian) – What?_

_(6) Nem, ne tr__é__f__á__lj valami ilyesmi! Ez nem vicces! (Hungarian) – No, don't joke about something like that! This is not funny!_

_(7) De-! Nicsak Ausztria! (Hungarian) – But-! See here Austria!_

_(8) __Tudomásul veszem, hogy én vagyok a nő, __de én ne képes egy __**anya**__! __Ez lehetetlen! (Hungarian) – I understand that I'm a woman, but I can't be a __**mother**__! It's impossible!_

_(9) N-nem különbség (Hungarian) – N-no difference_

_(10) Imádlak __túl sokat,__ Magyarorsz__á__g (Hungarian) – I love you too much, Hungary (where the 'I love you' bit has more of a connotation of loving someone from the bottom of your heart) _

_(11) Ich liebe dich auch, Österreich. __Danke mein liebe (German) – I love you too, Austria. Thanks my love._

_History time! (and other explanations):_

_Wallachia is either Romania or Romania's male relative (according to the canon material), but for the purposes of my headcanon material and what I have decided based on the history, he's Romania's father. Bohemia is the future Czech Republic and it should be pretty clear that Slovak is the future Slovakia. There was actually no centralized predominantly-Slovak state for much of European history, but they have a long history, so I maintain that Slovakia took on the name of the Slovak people that he represented instead of tying his name to any specific piece of land until 1918 when the Austro-Hungarian Empire was broken apart piecemeal. Speaking of Bohemia, I find it rather strange in the canon material that Silesia belonged to Austria's physical being when, as Hungary pointed out, it was part of the Bohemian Crownlands. Just a little something to think about (and it's something I'm __**still**__ thinking about even after having written that months ago)._

_ Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 saw the end of the Great Turkish War in which Austria finally won control over most of Hungary from the Ottoman Empire and the most recent fight between him and Ottoman that's referred to (that is finished with the Treaty of Passorwitz July 21, 1718) frees all of Hungary's remaining land from Ottoman control._

_ It __**would**__ figure that Hungary would be completely clueless that she was pregnant. And it's true that not all women have morning sickness. My own mom didn't when she was pregnant with me. Also, since nations are usually bound to represent a specific piece of land, I figure that the food cravings would have a much more significant impact among pregnant nation women than normal human women._


	2. Chapter 2

_early July, 1718_

Hungary wasn't scared senseless out of her mind about being pregnant like she was that late afternoon summer's day when she had found out, or rather Austria had told her (that was embarrassing on a whole different level), but being pregnant was still a rather terrifying thing for her to handle, mostly because of what it meant. In about six more months, she would be a mom. Her! A mother! Her who'd been led to believe since _birth_ that she was a boy! _Why_ hadn't her own anya (1) ever told her the truth? _Why_?! If she'd grown-up knowing she was a girl, rather than the boy she _thought_ she was until 1525, confirmation of the fact all thanks to Prussia, then maybe she'd have more of a grasp on how she was supposed to deal with this very _real_ womanly-non-nation-exclusive function! And of all the female nations that were still around, why did it have to be _her_ that was first put into the role of motherhood after centuries or so of no new children, save those countries or colonies that were born in the New World? Or if it had to be her who was first, why at a time when none of the old mothers were still around for advice?! She didn't think she could handle this.

Despite her own misgivings, it had cheered her up immensely when they'd gotten back home in early July (the timing of which had nothing to do with the fact that Spain made another attempt to steal back Romano) and told Italy the news about her pregnancy. Hungary didn't think she'd ever seen her auburn-haired child so ecstatic. His stray hair curl had reformed into a heart and his copper-brown eyes had opened wide right before he'd tackled her in his tightest, most affectionate hug ever before he quickly let go, jumped back three feet, apologized profusely for fear of hurting the little unborn bambino or bimba, (2) and then hugged her back much more gently this time with his monologue slipping back and forth in a confused gibberish of Italian and German (he'd never quite managed to get a good grasp on her own language).

Even the older, slightly-taller Romano had tried _so_ hard to look uninterested in the subject of her unborn child, it was absolutely adorable, and she took pity on the southern Italian nation by making sure that she went over and hugged him when he was being his usual stand-offish self. She regretted that she'd never got the chance to know him like she did his younger brother; he was a pretty good kid too, though Austria would have begged to differ when they were younger (about the both of them actually). Romano may have still been pretty rough around the edges and perhaps Spain's rearing of him hadn't resulted in the best possible outcome, but Romano at least had Spain as a trustworthy friend for life and Hungary was glad he had that much; she understood how much he'd needed a friend for himself only relatively recently since his living with Spain and _her_ changing houses eight times a year on average had prevented her from finding this out sooner.

"Don't worry, Romano. You can be my little one's big brother too if you want," Hungary said with a warm reassuring smile to the embarrassed young man, young despite the fact that he was older than her by several centuries.

"O-Only if it's a girl, damn it," Romano stuttered and looked away, but the fact that Romano's strand of hair also curled into a heart gave him away; he would be a big brother to even a son of hers. Romano really was just too adorable when he was flustered like this.

"Of course, Romano," she agreed and kissed his cheek in thanks for his kindness, which was apparently a rare and unexpected privilege she'd garnered seeing as how he didn't even let Southern Netherlands kiss his cheek and he'd known her longer.

"Ooh, I hope it _is_ a little sorella!" (3) Italy exclaimed happily, "She'd be so cute, I bet she'd look just like you, Ms. Hungary!"

"We'll see my darling Italian boys, we'll see," Hungary said with a laugh, "For all we know, you both might end up with another fratello." (4)

"Damn it, I hope not," Romano said with a slight grimace. He was definitely hoping she would have a girl.

"Ve, he'll _still_ be as cute as you, Ms. Hungary!" Italy proclaimed with as much unhindered enthusiasm as before.

Italy and Romano weren't the only ones excited about her child's unknown gender. As soon as she'd told her good friend Southern Netherlands, she was just as anxious as they were for Hungary's pregnancy to hurry up so they could find out.

"I just can't believe that of all the nations in Europe, _you_ are going to have the first child in… who knows how many decades or centuries it's been now!" Southern Netherlands exclaimed, which pretty much summarized Hungary's own feelings about the whole thing except without the tone of dread that Hungary would have used were it _her_ speaking and not the Dutch woman.

"Yeah, crazy. The internationally-declared manliest female Kingdom of Europe, a mother. Pretty ironic," Hungary said rather dryly and vaguely wondered whether it would be a good idea to drink tea or coffee now that she was pregnant.

"It may be ironic, Hungary, but I envy you," Southern Netherlands said seriously, a dreamy look coming over her face and making her look even more cat-like than her face already did on a daily basis. "You've found a man, one of us even and not one of our beloved humans, that you love who clearly loves you back, and you're fortunate enough that you even get to bear this man's child."

"Well, I guess… when you put it that way…" Hungary trailed off, her cheeks flushed red even as she smiled.

"Uh-huh," Southern Netherlands nodded satisfactorily at having made her point and gave the blushing Magyar a red tulip from the vase on the table just to give the woman's fingers something to do. "By the _Lord_ though, Hongarije, (5) you're going to have a baby this winter! Any ideas on whether it'll be a girl or a boy?"

"Isn't it just random, like rolling a dice?" Hungary asked.

Southern Netherlands merely shrugged her shoulders, "Dice can be loaded."

"You can't cheat on a child's gender? ! ? !"

"I bet Monaco would find a way if it were her."

"Who?"

"France's older sister. Ridiculously tiny country, but she's somehow a full-grown woman."

"France has an older sister?"

"Apparently."

"I don't even know if that surprises me or not."

"Not an uncommon reaction, I assure you."

"Back to the topic on hand though, how would I even begin to guess what my child's gender is Snether?" Hungary asked, reorienting back on the original topic as she plucked at the stem of the tulip flower.

Southern Netherlands's brow furrowed slightly, "You've never even given it a moment's thought to just sit down and wonder about what your own child's gender is gonna be? Girl, if it were me, I'd have already been done with the wishful thinking and started sewing dresses for the babe to wear, regardless of if the kid turned out to be a boy or not. And then of course, thinking of the names has got to be the best part!"

"But that's so early!" Hungary protested, "And doesn't that seem like encouraging for the opposite to happen _because_ you're preparing for the one? Also, we can't pick nation names; it doesn't work like that!"

"Oh nooo, I'm not talking about the nation name, I'm talking about the _human _name. Your parents gave you yours, didn't they? Heck, we can even change our human names since it's not like they mean anything outside of the context they're being used in for our disguise." Hungary was not about to tell Southern Netherlands that she was one of those who _had _changed her human name because she couldn't go around as a woman with a boy's name, else the whole point of the disguise thing kinda failed. But Southern Netherlands had already left that topic of conversation and was onto the next one, "Infants and young toddlers wear dresses anyway regardless of their gender so that they can't escape and get into trouble when the adults aren't looking, so it'd be no problem at all even if the baby _is_ a boy. Don't mothers have some kind of intuition about what they're kid's going to be?"

"Doubtful, else there'd be a lot less hassle with the majority of monarchs waiting nigh nine months for a son only to end up with a daughter. But if there is _any_ kind of intuition about that, _I_ certainly don't have it," Hungary added with a grimace, not at all eager to recount _exactly_ how she'd found out she was pregnant in the first place.

"Anywho, just between the two of us, I hope you have a girl. I mean, just think about it Hungary! An adorable little girl nation for you to hug and cuddle and fawn over because she's just _so. freaking. cute_! You can put her in some of your traditional dresses like you told me you did with Italy that one time and you could play with her hair and put it up into all kinds of styles, like braids! Braids _always _look cute!"

It seemed that the general prevailing wish, among those that Hungary was close to, was for her baby to be a girl, but all of this attention to this one detail also made it blatantly-clear to her that the one person who _wasn't_ wondering openly about the child's gender was the one who mattered most, Austria, and it concerned her a little. Did he even care or was he just really good at hiding his preference? If the latter was the case, then which gender _did_ he prefer for their child to be? And how would he react if it wasn't?

When she decided to confront him, she found him tuning his harpsichord, so she waited quietly and patiently just outside the door with a soft smile on her face as she watched him work. He was so intense when he was focused on his music to the exclusion of all else; he probably didn't even realize that she was here. She was decent with music, but nowhere near an expert's level and certainly not good enough for her to discern the slightly-faulty notes from the good ones, but if Austria could hear it, then it would bother him until it was fixed. Once he seemed satisfied with his tuning, he settled himself down on the bench and played a short little medley that Hungary had long-since come to identify as Austria's self-check, post-tuning piece because it struck every note on the harpsichord keys and it had an almost haunting kind of tune as a result. When his tuning inspection was complete, Hungary began to clap and it pleased her to see his shoulders tense out of surprise and the slight smile on his face when he turned around to face her. She didn't know many other people who could bring that soft expression to his facial features.

"Any particular favorites you'd like me to perform or are you here to drag me away to go do other things?" he asked.

"No, it's fine if you stay. Haven't managed to acquire one of those new pianofortes of Italy's yet?" she teased as she entered the harpsichord-clavichord room and stood beside him.

Austria gave a dry laugh and shook his head, "No, but I still plan to. I want to experiment with it and hear for myself just what this new instrument can do. To summarize what Italy's told me about it; the pianoforte is the offspring of the harpsichord and the clavichord: an instrument that carries the loudness of the harpsichord with the control of the clavichord."

"Oh, Austria, you and your toys," Hungary giggled with a slight shake of her head, "I remember how excited you were at having a new collection of Ottoman Empire's instruments after the Great Turkish War."

"I acquired a great many things that made me happy as a result of that war, kedvesem; can you fault me for that?"

"Hardly," she said softly, thinking of Karlowitz, and it reminded her of why she'd come to see him in the first place, "There _is_ something that I wish to ask you though."

"What is it?" he asked, his expression back to a normal, patient neutral.

"Well…" she began, slightly hesitant, "In talking with Italy, Romano, and Southern Netherlands, we ended up discussing our baby's possible gender and I realized that you hadn't said anything about it at all and… in most situations, gender tends to be very important so… Do you have a preference too?"

His expression didn't change at all, not even slightly, but she waited. Waited even as he turned back around to face his harpsichord and plucked out a few casual notes. Was he thinking of how best to word his answer or was he pondering over one? With him, it could be either.

"If you asked the other male nations the same question, I'm sure that the majority of them would tell you they would prefer a son without a moment's hesitation. All of my Scandinavian cousins and definitely my older brother would give you that answer." Hungary figured that this was Austria's roundabout way of answering her question, but when she opened her mouth to ask for confirmation of this, he turned toward her again and said, "But I am not Prussia, nor am I Denmark, Sweden, or Norway. Nations do not have to worry about matters of inheritance like humans do, so I need not be concerned with a daughter receiving nothing." He reached up and touched her cheek, smiling warmly up at her, "It is enough for me that you are the mother of my child; I am content with either a son or daughter, beloved."

"Austria, you're amazing," Hungary said as she covered his hand upon her face with her own and wondered for perhaps the millionth time how she was so lucky to have fallen in love with a man like him.

()()()()()()

_early August, 1718_

Just because Romano was living with them now didn't mean that he didn't keep up some correspondence with his old 'boss' whenever it suited him, even if said boss was currently trying to reclaim custody of said Italian (as long as Romano wasn't passing along any war secrets, Austria really didn't have a problem with it). Of course, this meant that Spain was, by consequence, informed about Hungary's pregnancy, and the timing really was perfect because at any other time, France would have known as soon as Spain did since both had Bourbon kings as a result of the Spanish War of Succession.

However, since at _least_ August of last year because that was when he'd been attacked, Spain and France weren't talking to each other because Philip V was claiming inheritance rights (that he'd already renounced) to the French throne and France wasn't too happy about that. Most shocking of all was that Britain and France were _actually _working together to stop Spain's boss's ambitions. Austria sighed as he dropped the letter upon his work desk and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. And if it were any other time, he wouldn't mind Spain wanting to come and visit Hungary, especially since they got along well and he was a good friend, but he couldn't trust that his old partner didn't have an ulterior motive for wanting to come visit.

Spain was not as strong as he had once been, but he knew what many other nations did not. When he had first met Spain, he had finally accomplished his Reconquista and was a united country at long last after so long having lived under another's boot for centuries, and Austria could see all that raw potential within in those playful green eyes. He could see within them just how powerful this aspiring nation would become and he'd decided right then and there that Spain would become his too. He was another project, another goal, and one that was accomplished within a much shorter timespan than some of his _other_ ambitions in the east, but his instincts had proved correct. Spain quickly became a fierce and mighty empire to rival his own older brother, though those times were long gone now. So it did not matter to Austria that Spain was no longer a powerful empire because there was no doubt in his mind that if he allowed Spain to come to his home, he would once again be faced with those same eyes from back then: those of a young Iberian nation fresh out of his Reconquista.

He was not going to let Spain have Romano back just because he wanted him. Austria could certainly understand Spain's unwillingness to part with his charge, but he was still quite sore about Spain sneaking into his house to try and steal back Romano last year while he was preoccupied with defending the younger Italian brother from Ottoman Empire, and then trying to steal him _again_ in early July this year before he'd even finished up with Ottoman at Passorwitz. Well, after having joined the Triple Alliance of France, Britain, and Dutch Republic on August 2nd (and thus forming the Quadruple Alliance) for the exact purpose of preventing Spain from obtaining either the French throne or South Italy, he had all the political reason necessary to deny Spain his request to visit and he told him so in so many words in the rigid letter that he penned back to him in French, a language he found himself writing in more and more when discussing international affairs with other nations.

Hungary was unhappy with his decision.

"I didn't get to see him much, but I liked Spain," she told him with a slight pout while they were working in the armory and it made him want to laugh at how very childish she looked. "He was fun where you were stuffy."

"Hungary, that's not fair!" Austria protested instantly in a tone that was most definitely _not _a whine.

She raised an eyebrow at him in amusement while she continued to clean the sword she was working on. "Oh? Then _please_ tell me just how much more fun you were in comparison to the Spaniard."

He decided to ignore her jibe. "Hungary, I promise that as soon as Spain gets his act together and stops trying to reacquire Romano the wrong way, I'll invite him over myself."

"Thank you, Austria. You miss him too, don't you?"

Austria gave a nod as he continued his examination of the Charleville Musket, a present courtesy of France. "I do. It's difficult losing someone you're close to. It seems that I've lost quite a few of them over the course of my life."

He heard Hungary pause in her ministrations and he wondered if perhaps he's let slip too much. He knew he had when she was suddenly beside him and lowering the barrel of the musket to look deep into his eyes. Yes, he'd lost too much of his family already: his mutter and his vater (6) (but no-one had those anymore anyway), his brothers Switzerland and Holy Rome, and recently Spain. Who would be next?

"You haven't lost me," Hungary said firmly as though she knew exactly what he was thinking. "And we still have this," she added as she placed her free hand upon her ever-growing stomach.

"Ah. So we do," Austria agreed with a light smile. So long as he had this, he could handle it.

()()()()()()

_18 September, 1718_

No… No, no, no, no, _no_…! Of all people, why did it have to be _him _coming to pay a visit?!

"Helloooooo, Austriaaaaa! I know, I know, no need to thank me for providing you with a long-deprived dose of my awesomeness," Prussia declared with all his headache-inducing arrogance after having burst through his office door with all the brazenness of a boar.

"It hasn't been long enough," Austria grumbled, "And why are you even here? Aren't you busy fighting Sweden seeing as how you joined that coalition to take him down three years ago?"

Prussia's expression instantly turned sulky. "He's too busy fighting Norway at the moment, so there's not really anything for me to do except make sure he doesn't try and take back what I've nabbed of Western Pomerania."

"Following Brandenburg's old long-term desire to obtain all of Pomerania, are you?"

Prussia's eyes narrowed angrily at him, as if that would somehow faze him. "This has nothing to do with _Brandenburg_," Prussia spat venomously, "I finally rid myself of him when I became a Kingdom and I'm going to acquire Pomerania for my own sake and no-one else's."

Austria couldn't quite entirely suppress the corners of his mouth from twitching upward slightly. It was not very often that he managed to force Prussia onto the defensive, and so quickly, but his undesired marriage to Brandenburg had always been a touchy and sensitive subject to his older brother. Though Prussia probably realized this, it wasn't smart to mention his ascension from Margraviate-Duchy to Kingdom because it was only by the grace of the Holy Roman Emperor that such an event had even been allowed to transpire. Lord only knew what it did for Prussia's ego to be reminded of that. Regardless, scoring a few points over Prussia wasn't going to get him out of his house.

"Then why are you here instead of staying at home to make sure that your newly-acquired possessions aren't seized while you're gone?"

"Pfft! I may be supremely awesome, but I've also got my Soldier King, and he's not gonna let anything happen on his watch, so I don't need to be there all hours of the day, and therefore have plenty of time to spare to come and pester you!" Prussia declared with all his splendid egoism returning in full force as he turned a spare chair 180 degrees and sat down backwards with his arms resting on the back of the chair.

"Well, unlike you, I _am_ busy with a war, so I have no time to deal with you," Austria told him, hoping without much faith that the eighteen-year-old Kingdom would go away and leave him alone.

"Ah, trying to punish Spain for attempting to steal Romano, huh?" Prussia asked with a mischievous smirk.

Austria rolled his eyes. "Yes, he's occupied Sicily and Sardinia and I intend to oust him out. Britain at least managed to eliminate the Spanish fleet off of Sicily in early August, so that's one less thing to have to contend with."

"Eyebrows Britain, huh? Heh-heh, did you know his George I is the uncle of my Soldier King and the grandfather of my Crown Prince? Britain sure is starting to become a powerful little demon. Man, I remember when that Richard the Lionheart king of his got arrested by _you _and the guy's _mother_ had to bail him out; such a mama's boy."

"Indeed he was…" Austria said slowly, though his mind was instead focused upon what Prussia had said about his immediate ruling family having such a close relationship to Britain's.

Frederick William I was a nephew to George I and also a cousin to the current Prince of Wales, another George. Not only that, but Prussia's Crown Prince Frederick was both a grandson to George I, and a nephew to Britain's heir apparent, and all through his mother. Prussia was not a particularly powerful state within the Empire, but it made Austria uneasy to think of Britain acquiring the position of Elector of Brandenburg on top of already holding the Elector of Hanover title for his family. If Britain and Prussia were thinking of uniting through their ruling families, he would have to put a stop to it. The idea of a British-Prussian union was _not_ something he ever wanted to see become a reality.

"Say, where's that psycho woman anyway?" Prussia asked suddenly, looking a little out-of-sorts.

Austria stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to clarify _which _'psycho woman' Prussia was referring to, seeing as how he seemed to think that _all_ nation women were psychos.

"_Yours_, you dumbass," Prussia groaned with a roll of his eyes, "You didn't think I'd risk my hide coming here to see the crazy bitch who threw your guys out the window and started the Thirty Years' War, did ya?" It was a constant source of amazement to Austria how his stupid older brother had managed to live so long with such a crude mouth. "Normally, your psycho Hungarian woman would have found me by now and we'd be either bro-fisting or skillet-to-face-smashing, so where is she?"

"Last I saw her, she told me she was going to take a nap a couple hours ago," Austria informed him dully as he leaned back in his chair and picked up a paper regarding the finances for the expedition in Italy.

"What? Hungary? _Napping_?!" Prussia demanded, clearly dumbstruck, "The hell! How old is she? Two hundred?! Hungary doesn't take _naps_; what have you done with the _real_ Hungary?!"

"I haven't _done_ anything to her," Austria sighed irritably. She'd been taking a lot more naps as of late because of her pregnancy; there wasn't anything _that _unusual about it.

"Bastard," Prussia growled as he stood up suddenly and slammed his hand down on the desk, glaring at him. "You're hiding something about her, now what have you done to my best friend!"

"For the last time, you moron, I haven't done anything!" Austria shouted back.

Prussia looked ready to make another angry retort when there was a sudden extremely-loud _thud_ followed immediately by Prussia's body being thrown violently to the floor sideways, just missing the corner of his desk. The source of the force was from a combination of the heavy skillet lying next to his brother's bloody head and the expert throwing strength of the grumpy, aura-angry woman standing just outside the door with her right arm outstretched.

"I thought I heard some Low Prussian German being spoken around here," Hungary said angrily, and the frightening magenta aura around her wasn't going away either. "How's a woman supposed to sleep when you won't shut up, you dätsch Kujel!" (7)

Regrettably, Prussia was already regaining consciousness. "Damn woman… If you're gonna talk like me, then say the words right!" Prussia demanded as he stood up and turned around to face the devil woman… but all words left him immediately as soon as he saw her, clearly well-rounded and absolutely radiant (in Austria's biased eyes of course) in the sixth month of her pregnancy. Prussia stared blankly for a good solid five minutes before he jumped back and screamed at the top of his lungs, "AAAHHHHHH! HOLY CRAP, YOU'RE FAT! ! !"

And thus Prussia spoke what would be remembered as his famous last words in future generations, before his body was even brought to its final resting place. Amen.

"If he gets back up… I'll kill him again…" Hungary said with an angry huff.

"Szerelmem, (8) don't waste anymore of your time on that idiot," Austria told her, thankful that she was considerate enough to 'kill' Prussia in such a way that he didn't get blood all over everything. "How are you feeling? Did you manage to get enough sleep or did he wake you up?"

Hungary groaned as she leaned against the door frame. "I was just barely awake when I heard that dooschface bothering you. He's way too loud and obnoxious."

Austria gazed at her for a moment before deciding that concentration on the finances would be impossible. He stood up from his desk and moved to join her. "I apologize for my brother's stupidity, Hungary."

"Well, there's really no helping that. I suppose I can forgive you, but…" she sighed, and then placed her finger upon his lips with a sly smile, "only on the condition that you kiss me, kedvesem."

"And what kind of condition is that?" he chuckled, but acceded to her request all the same.

"Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!"

Only to be interrupted by Italy.

"Mr. Austria! Ms. Hungary! Urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, _urgent _news! The Emperor just sent me to tell you that Empress Elisabeth's delivery is imminent and you need to come quickly!"

"What?! Right now!" Austria demanded, horror-struck. His boss's wife was in labor and he wasn't told before _now_!

"Oh g'dy… Looks I've got g'timing," Prussia drawled almost drunkenly from inside the room as he stood up (an impressive feat in and of itself) while trying to staunch the river of blood flowing from his possibly-broken nose.

"Prussia must die!" Hungary mumbled murderously, her angry aura coming back full-force.

"You can kill him _after _we attend the birth, now come on! Italy, you lead!"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Austria!" Italy answered with a salute (with the wrong hand) and quickly led the way to where hopefully an archduke was being born.

If he didn't get a son, he'd end up like Spain, and then where would he be? Charles was working hard on getting the other nations to accept his Pragmatic Sanction for little Maria Theresa to become his heiress presumptive in all the Habsburg realms, and even ahead of his late brother's daughters, but Austria wasn't naïve. He _knew_ there were some nations that would look for _any_ excuse to try and take him down, so the situation needed to be avoided at all costs. He _needed_ a son, and he prayed hard that the nearly year-long wait hadn't been in vain to achieve that goal. Austria knew they'd arrived outside the correct room when he saw Romano sitting on the floor just outside the door with his arms crossed.

"Hey, are you alright, Romano?" Italy asked when he reached his older brother.

"I'm fine, you damn jerk!" Romano retorted angrily, as foul-mouthed as ever, "I just don't want to be in _there_ watching… that…" the older Italian gave a slight shudder.

Austria understood. After all, this was hardly the first time that someone had been born since Romano had grown-up and been physically old enough to be allowed beyond those doors. Romano just didn't have the stomach to be present for a birth and Austria couldn't blame him. Birthing wasn't exactly a pleasant affair for anyone involved. He knew Italy couldn't handle it either for about the same reason.

"You two are going to wait outside again until it's over, I expect," Austria said, more for confirmation's sake then any real need for an answer.

"Absolutely Papà Austria!" Italy replied enthusiastically despite the fact that his face had blanched.

"Yes, Mr. Austria, sir," Romano said grumpily. At least he was… somewhat more respectful to him in adulthood, despite his… dislike for German-speaking people that Austria did _not _doubt probably originated in some part from Vater Germania killing their Grandpa Rome.

"I'ma gonna wait wi'the Italies," Prussia told them, his voice twanging oddly because he was still trying to stop his bloody nose with a spare ragged length of cloth that Austria could _not_ be bothered to ask where he'd acquired it.

"What for?" Austria asked, one eyebrow raised in confusion, "I mean Italy and Romano are understandable, but why are you going to sit out here? You've seen this before with your own royal family, haven't you? It's _hardly _anything different."

"… No… I don't… even watch the births of my own family," Prussia admitted quietly, his face flushed with embarrassment.

Austria gave a sudden snort of laughter at seeing Prussia _so _uncomfortable. "You practically _bathe_ yourself in the horrors of war and yet you get squeamish over seeing a baby being born?"

"Shut up!" Prussia shouted, his face still incredibly red, "There's a _huge _difference between war and birth, you know!"

"I _do_ know, Prussia," Austria replied calmly. "War is what ends lives while birth begins new ones. It must be difficult to be so close to something that is the very antithesis of your life's work."

"Shut up," Prussia grumbled with a glare as he settled himself against the wall, unable to refute Austria's words, "Just somebody tell me whether you've got an heir or another daughter when it's done."

"Of course," Austria responded and entered the room with Hungary.

Taking a headcount of the other nations present, Austria saw that Southern Netherlands, Bohemia, Slovak, Carinthia, and Croatia were already present. Them plus the two Italies outside and Hungary beside him consisted of at least most of the territory he was responsible for, if not all of it. And apart from the nations, there were plenty of ministers present to be certain there was no question of the child's gender. All that was left now was to wait and let nature take its course.

Except that this time wasn't like the other births he'd witnessed.

It wasn't that something was going wrong; on the contrary, everything was fine, but never before when any of his family's children were born had he been expecting one of his own. In about three months, it would be Hungary giving birth to his child. Hungary going into labor. Hungary screaming in pain. His violet eyes flicked about to every single head in the room. So many men. All here waiting and watching, and Austria found himself struck by an overwhelming sense of vertigo and he suddenly had the horrific image of seeing not the Empress, but Hungary, sprawled in the birthing chair in the agony of this exclusively-female duty before the many uncaring and critical male eyes, and he felt sick. He would not accept this, not for Hungary.

Austria quickly clasped her hand tightly from beside him and turned his head slightly to whisper into her ear. "We'll draw from our peasants' traditions when it's your time. I will not let our child be born at the expense of your humiliation."

Hungary said nothing in reply save for squeezing his hand tighter and leaning her head against his shoulder, and he knew that she'd been having similar horrifying thoughts. This time, out of respect for the woman he cherished so dearly, he did not actually watch the birth of Charles VI's second daughter. He was disappointed like Charles VI, and was bothered enough by the continued lack of a son that he couldn't even walk out that door yet because Prussia would be there waiting to taunt him for having yet another daughter, but at last the horrid ordeal was finally over. He never remembered it ever being so stressful for him before.

Interestingly enough, the first person to confront him following the birth was neither a man nor a human, and he stared down at Southern Netherlands expectantly, wondering what it was that she wanted to say to him. The way she had her arms crossed and kept her expression firm and unyielding gave her an uncanny resemblance to her older brother. They were both merchants by trade after all.

"So, Austria… What shall you do?" she started, and though it was a vague opening, he didn't need to ask what she was talking about.

"Properly and not like this," Austria responded, equally vague.

Southern Netherlands gave a slight half-smile. "Very good. I shall be the midwife."

"That's acceptable."

"Oh, can't you two ever talk to each other in complete sentences for once?" Hungary said with an exasperated laugh.

"Aw, but Hungary, that would take the fun out of it?" Southern Netherlands protested with a pout, "I don't get to play this game all that often, and I have to keep in top form if I'm to haggle and bargain with the best of them, especially Dutch Repbulic. Broer's (9) ruthless in his business dealings, you know."

"Indeed," Hungary agreed then turned to look up at Austria, "Ready to leave this room now?"

Austria flinched slightly. "Not quite. First I need somebody to check and see if Prussia's still waiting for me or not."

At the very mention of Prussia's name, a malicious grin stole over Hungary's face and she was once again emitting a terrifying aura of doom. "That's right…" she said darkly, "I still need to kill him for what he said to me earlier."

"Maybe Southern Netherlands should go check for us instead," Austria suggested, at the risk of Hungary's wrath. Ordinarily, he wouldn't mind, but if Prussia was unconscious on his floor, it meant less time that Prussia _wasn't_ traveling back home and more time that he would have to put up with his older brother's taunting about the lack of an heir, something he just couldn't handle right now.

"Sure, I can do that," Southern Netherlands agreed readily enough, though her green eyes were asking him what in God's name Prussia had said to cause Hungary to be _this_ violent to him so quickly. Austria only shook his head; now was _not_ the right time to answer that.

* * *

_(1) anya (Hungarian) – mother_

_(2) bambino/bimba (Italian) – baby_

_(3) sorella (Italian) – sister_

_(4) fratello (Italian) – brother_

_(5) __Hongarije (Dutch) – Hungary_

_(6) mutter/vater (German) – mother/father_

_(7) __dätsch Kujel_ _(Low Prussian German) – dumb boar_

_(8) szerelmem (Hungarian) – my love_

_(9) Broer (Dutch) – Brother_

_History time! (and other explanations):_

_The hardest part about this was probably writing Romano, and not because I don't like him (on the contrary, I love him), but because in canon material, he doesn't really interact with all that many people (Spain, Italy, and Germany predominantly with a little bit of Belgium, Britain, Ottoman Empire, France, Rome, and Prussia), and most of the 'little bit of' are from when he was a kid or are just one scene/dialogue exchange, so it's really hard to get a grasp of how the adult Romano would interact with others (especially when he acts different towards women), but I did my best. With my limited information about him, I figured that he too might see Hungary as a sorta motherly, big-sister figure and so would allow himself to be more friendly and let her have some limited degree of motherly prerogatives._

_ Oh, and that reminds me; there was no Belgium back in 1718. Belgium wasn't called that until 1830 and after her brother rebelled against Spain, he took on the name Dutch Republic which left the future Belgium to be called the Southern Netherlands (or Spanish and then Austrian). We haven't seen very much of Belgium, so I mostly characterized her from the impression that I received about the Belgian people and culture from a history book that I was reading (yes, I have a book on the history of Belgium). Let me tell you, they've been a strong, independent people considering that they're not united by geography or language the way some countries are. Similarly, there was no Slovenia either. Slovenia did not exist until 1918 sorta, so it took me a long time to figure out but I did eventually come to the conclusion based on all my research that the modern-day Slovenia would most-likely be called Carinthia in the 1700s._

_ Fun fact: the piano, or pianoforte as it was first called, wasn't actually invented until the early 1700s. However, the harpsichord has been around for a very long time and looks a lot like the piano (so in all the Chibitalia stuff, that means that the instrument that Austria was always playing was not a piano, but probably a harpsichord). And in talking about recent inventions; the Charleville Musket was a French-made musket and was pretty new in the early 1700s._

_ Also, getting further along into the 1700s, Latin is rapidly falling out of use among the educated ranks and French is replacing it. In fact, the treaty for the Polish War of Succession around the 1730s was the very last treaty actually written in Latin, so Austria and the others are starting to forget good chunks of Latin because it's so negligible. They might remember enough for Church stuff, but for the most part, they're forgetting it._

_ And now Prussia! I haven't really had a chance to discuss this with anyone or share my thoughts, but I came up with it when figuring out how Prussia, as the Duchy of Prussia in 1525, became the Kingdom of Prussia, centered on the Brandenburg territory in 1740 in the canon material. This is what I came up with: the Duchy of Prussia was inherited by Brandenburg and they married, forming Brandenburg-Prussia, but in 1701, when an opportunity rose for an upgrade, Prussia killed Brandenburg and the lands that were Brandenburg's were now a part of him, so because there was no Brandenburg anymore, he became the Kingdom of Prussia._

_I know that Prussia may seem a bit out of character, but remember that this is still a couple decades before the Austrian War of Succession when Prussia first emerged as a formidable European power, so he's still pretty much overlooked right now and he also had to cope with the fact that he's only a Kingdom because the Holy Roman Emperor wanted another ally for the Spanish War of Succession. In this fic, Hungary also mentions that Prussia speaks in a Low Prussian German dialect, and I decided this because that's the German that was spoken in East Prussia (where the Duchy of Prussia is) and it was influenced by the Old Prussian language as well as the other neighboring Slavic languages. It's the closest he can get to speaking his old mother tongue because the Old Prussian language died out only recently for him in the 1700s because of the numerous plagues from 1709 – 1711. I really don't think that Prussia would be able to handle watching a birth either. He's experienced in war, but that's a completely different situation and it's perfectly natural to be squeamish about one, but not the other. For example, I am perfectly fine at looking at a dead animal and dissecting it and I have fun doing so too, but the one time I saw a video of a horse undergoing surgery, I got squeamish and I knew right then and there in an instant that medical work was not for me._


	3. Chapter 3

_22 January, 1719_

"Austria, I've said it once, I'll say it again… Your hovering over me is _not_ going to make this baby be born any faster! By Saint Stephen, my own _mother_ didn't even worry about me this much!"

"But it should have been born last month!"

"Well it wasn't, so it _clearly_ wasn't ready to come out yet!" Hungary retorted heatedly. She loved Austria, but the way he'd been fussing over her for the past month was simply suffocating.

"Well, it _clearly_ is now!"

"Austria, I _just_ started having labor contractions and this is my first child, so it might take an entire day for it to be born; you of all people Mister I-marry-off-so-many-of-my-Habsburg-children-that-I -have-a-motto-for-it should already know that the first child usually takes the longest."

"Hello, sorry, may I cut in and say something?" Southern Netherlands asked, having been standing there watching the two bicker about this for a while now.

"I'm sorry. Yes, Snether, what is it?" Hungary said, pointedly-ignoring Austria who was fuming.

"Well, the contractions seem to be going slow enough that it'll be awhile before the child is born, so in the meantime, you just take it easy until they start coming _much _faster and harder. When that happens, _then_ somebody needs to come get me."

"I'll do it! I'll do it!" Italy piped up excitedly from beside her now that he was no longer concerned about his Mamma since learning that she was just experiencing birth stuff. "I can run really fast; I'll find you super quick!"

"Excellent. I'm not planning on doing anything too tedious today myself either, since I don't want to be caught up in the middle of something when it's time," Southern Netherlands said and laid a hand on Hungary's shoulder, offering her a comforting smile, "I'll see you later then. Hang tight, you're almost done. Just got several more hours left of this Hell, that's all. And you, Austria, try not to bother the woman too much or you might find her _particularly _unpleasant to you after the delivery seeing as how it's your fault and everything."

"That hardly seems like a fair accusation given that it takes two to even make a baby," Austria said with a frown.

"Well, _Herr __Ö__sterreich_,when _you_ get pregnant, _then_ you'll be eligible for us to discuss the fairness of it," Southern Netherlands retorted with an amused smirk dancing across her features.

And for some reason that Austria did not fully understand, by 'not bothering the woman', what Southern Netherlands had _really_ meant was Hungary didn't even want to see him in the same room as her because he simply 'got on her nerves for the time being'. Flustered and anxious for many reasons, Austria was forced to resign himself to the fact that he was just going to have to _wait_… like he'd already been doing for at least a month now. Focusing on work wasn't possible, he was too distracted. And when he was distracted, there was really only one thing that he _could_ focus on. Austria was _almost_ surprised that his feet had taken him to exactly where he wanted to be without even thinking it: his precious music room.

Stepping into the room, Austria first went over to his harpsichord positioned precisely in the center of the room in all her resplendent glory, but he did not sit down. Instead, he pressed a key, a G note, and it sounded as it should to his ears. He'd suspected so; he'd already tuned it recently and the clavichord too. Thinking of the two instruments only served to remind him of his desire to acquire a pianoforte and he frowned slightly. It was superior to both the harpsichord _and_ the clavichord, but then where would he put those two when he _did_ acquire the pianoforte? He still hadn't answered that problem and he couldn't very well have _two _instruments of similar build occupying the center; it would look tacky and ruin the artistic composition of the room.

Still unsure of what to do about this serious matter, Austria decided to dismiss the thought for the time being and instead walked over to one side of the room where some of his other instruments were stored and pulled out a violin case marked with a _J. Stainer _written on the side in his own handwriting. He smiled at the name and opened the case to remove the violin lying within. He pulled the instrument out of its protective case and cradled it in his arms, running a gentle finger over the smooth wood. By human standards, this was an old instrument, but to him, it was still quite young, only having been built in 1648 when the Thirty Years' War finally ended and it was on this splendid little darling that he'd first openly-expressed the sense of failure and the anger at himself for having lost his youngest brother during that time. As a musician, he could not deny that Stradivari's violins were superior to Stainer's in terms of projected volume, but such a volume was too loud for chamber music, and of course Austria was biased in preferring the violins of the one famous and well-known luthier that had come from his own home. He knew that he would probably end up getting another violin eventually when they produced a sound he liked that was impossible to make on any of the ones he had, but until then, he knew he would continue to use this one for a long time yet.

"That's one of Stainer's violins, isn't it?"

Austria was startled out of his reverie by the unexpected question, but he didn't even need to turn around to see the woman to know that it was Bohemia who'd asked the question.

"Indeed it is; I'm impressed you could tell from such a distance. He built it in 1648 sometime during the five months that the Peace of Westphalia was being signed," Austria informed the Czech woman.

He could hear her 'Tch' of irritation and he knew it was because of his having brought up the Thirty Years' War; she was still sore about it. Austria half-expected her to say something in retaliation by bringing up some old instance when she'd forced him to work for her or when he was living with her older half-brother, Bavaria, but instead she said, "You make no sense to me, Austria."

Only then did he frown in puzzlement and turn to look at her; she was leaning against the door with her arms crossed and her dark blond hair pulled back into one long plait this time. Her olive green eyes were gazing down at him with a kind of bored annoyance. He stood up slowly and deliberately, the violin still in hand and though the great distance separated them from where they stood, he was at least looking down at her now (he saw her left eye twitch at this).

"And what exactly have I done this time to make you say such a thing, Königreich Böhmen?" (1) he asked as he strode purposefully over to her until they were a respectable distance apart from each other.

It was not hard to catch the signs of her increased anger from the clenching of her hands into a tights fists to the glowering of her eyes and the grinding of her teeth against each other as she struggled not to snap "České království!" (2) in retaliation for his saying her name in German. She was a very proud woman, he knew this, and yet he continued to derive a perverse pleasure from seeing her get so passionately riled up whenever he made verbal slights against her.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," Bohemia bit out angrily, but she was forcing herself to calm down and get control of herself, and when she took a last deep breath, she'd restored her almost-icy composure that was so disconcerting with those large eyes of hers. "Whenever Italy had tried to rebel against you in the past when he was a child, you squashed his little almost tantrum-like rebellions without batting an eye. When _I've_ rebelled against you, you've been similarly ruthless and uncaring and though I still despise you for what you did to me in the Battle of White Mountain in 1620, even _I_ must concede that your actions in handling the affairs of an empire are not so different from what I would do if _I _was the one in charge."

Austria's indifferent expression nearly slipped into one of surprise. Was Bohemia actually… complimenting him?

"But then with Hungary, you completely lose your head when dealing with her and even the excuse of you loving her is a shoddy one!" Bohemia shouted suddenly, her coolness gone again to be replaced by confusion. "When _I_ rebelled against you in 1618 in the Defenestration of Prague, you brutally-repressed my fighting strength which is a perfectly acceptable thing for the head of an empire to deal with a troublesome element, but then when _she_ rebelled against you during the 1670s, all you did was argue – granted it was some ferocious arguing, but still! – and then once she left in 1681, you fought to get her back! Okay, I suppose I can give you a bit of leeway there since following her rebellion, Ottoman Empire attacked, you got put under siege by him again, but then you beat him back and you ended up acquiring most of Hungary's territory, so you were in a bit of a euphoria when you granted the rebels their amnesty excepting that Thököly guy, but then when some of her people rebelled against you _again_ in the beginning of this current century, you hardly punished them! I mean, Austria, it's not consistent at all!"

"As you so kindly pointed out yourself, Bohemia, how I run the empire and the Habsburg lands is _my_ concern, not yours."

"Yes, I _know_ that Austria!" she said with a loud groan, "You've always treated Hungary differently from everyone else, but _loving _her doesn't make any sense for you either! She beat you senseless all the time when we were kids, I remember laughing about it with Bavaria, and yet you wanted to live with her since… when? Three centuries starting from when you two began living together under Albert II's rule? I mean, that's got to be some kind of stubborn desperate you've got right there; why on _earth _would you fall in love with a woman who's given you all kinds of trouble like that and including all the stuff she put you through in the latter half of this past century?"

"Don't sound so naïve, Bohemia, you're too old for that. How am I supposed to answer that question? We're both old enough to know that it's not possible to explain love in words. Instead, ask yourself this so that maybe you might understand what exactly you asked me. Why on earth would a man fall in love with a woman that he lived with since birth who abandoned him in a moment of weakness in his early childhood and had hardly any contact with him for several centuries, despite being neighbors, and whose departure eventually resulted in his reaching such a low point that he could not even represent a specific piece of land anymore and could only continue to survive by taking on the name of and becoming the direct representation of his people like in the tradition of our parents, grandparents, and ancient tribal ancestors of old?"

Bohemia looked away from him with a guilty frown upon her face and an obvious blush upon her cheeks. "That's not fair, Austria," she said sullenly.

"You have only yourself to blame for putting such a question to me, Bohemia," Austria said with an indifferent shrug. "We're nations. I shouldn't have to tell _you_ that love is never a smooth-sailing ship for us, particularly when the one you love is one of your neighbors."

Austria made to turn around and replace the violin back in its casket, thinking that he wasn't going to be able to take his mind off things with his music _either_, thanks to Bohemia's little interruption, when he heard her sudden "Wait!" and felt her delicate hands grasp his sleeve. There was no trace of anger or coolness in her eyes anymore, not really any specific emotion either and he knew that this was the most natural he'd seen her in a long time. "I know Hungary's started having the labor contractions today and that I interrupted you from being able to distract yourself from the matter with your music," she began, "I realize that you don't play _for_ anyone, but your family and whoever else is closest to you, but I wouldn't mind playing _with_ you if you'll allow me. It's been a regrettably-long time since I've played on my bock after all; my skills may have become rusty and with you being the music capital of Europe, we can't very well let that happen, now can we?" she added with a bit of a playful smirk at the jibe towards his musical reputation and even he let the corners of his mouth twitch upward slightly.

"Absolutely not!" Austria said fervently, "But I'm not sure as to how well a bock would sound with only a violin. We might need to pull in Slovak to play the Hackbrett for the accompaniment. You wouldn't mind if we brought him in for that, would you?"

"Oh no! Absolutely not!" Bohemia said breathlessly, looking even more flushed than she had earlier, "Just let me go and retrieve my bock from my room and let him know that we may need him for the music we'll be making soon."

She left the room quite quickly after that and Austria only shook his head in mild amusement. If she hadn't been so careless when he was living at her place, then when he'd gotten lost, he never would have stumbled across her diary pages and learned that she loved Slovak, though it wasn't _his_ fault that she'd hidden the pages within the folds of a map; that was a seriously terrible hiding place. The best part for him of course was that it seemed that she didn't even realize that he only knew that little secret _because _of said diary. Lucky him, because he was pretty sure that looking through a woman's diary was grounds to getting himself killed by its writer.

()()()()()()

_23 January 1719_

Under ordinary circumstances, Austria would not have appreciated being woken up in the middle of the night, but as it was, these were _not _ordinary circumstances and he was not at _all_ thrilled to discover when he woke up that morning at seven that Hungary had been in the active labor stage for several hours already.

"Why didn't someone think to wake me up and inform me of this?!" Austria demanded to the only person he could talk to, Italy, since the one he _really_ wanted to berate, Southern Netherlands, was behind the closed door and as per the common traditions, men were not allowed to be present to witness the birth.

"Ms. Southern Netherlands said that it would still take several hours for the baby to be born and she didn't want you to be exhausted when doing your work today," Italy explained quietly as he nervously tapped his forefingers together.

"And what if the baby was born while I was still asleep? What then?"

"Oh, I asked Ms. Southern Netherlands that exact same question!" Italy exclaimed with a sudden smile, "And she told me that if it looked like the baby was going to be born before you normally woke up, then I was to run straight to your room as fast as possible and do whatever I could to wake you up so that you wouldn't miss it!"

Austria gave a resigned sigh and rubbed a hand through his hair, "Well at least she was considerate enough to have a back-up plan. And she's right, I really should try and get _some_ work done today to make up for my poor performance yesterday." He placed a gentle hand atop Italy's head. "You're the fastest runner I know. I'm counting on you to alert me of any new developments, alright?"

"Sì, Papà Austria! I'll tell you when my new sibling is close to being born!" Italy said happily and Austria beamed at him.

"Thank you, Italy. Stay out of trouble."

"Ve? Well, I'll try," Italy said uncertainly and Austria chuckled a little. Italy was still pretty high maintenance, but he had mellowed out quite a bit since he'd first started living in his house and was better about behaving too. Austria liked to think that he'd played a role in shaping him into an acceptable young adult.

The first step to figuring out what his work may be was to head to his study, which was really the most efficient way he received messages from his boss. It was much easier to simply put all the messages in one location than to constantly have a messenger looking for him. Italy might be glad to perform running-type errands for him, but he had a tendency to lose or forget messages, even the written ones and _definitely_ the verbal ones (the probability of forgetfulness increased if the message was complicated and it was a 50-50 ratio when pasta was promised as an incentive). In short, he was a great runner, but unreliable, hence the current system.

Sure enough, upon arrival, there was a new paper placed upon the desk. It was just a short handwritten note, but it was in Charles VI's hand and there was no seal, so it was clearly unofficial; likely just a reminder. The corner of his mouth twitched into a slight smirk at his accurate prediction. It was a reminder to him that Charles was meeting with Anton Florian of the House of Liechtenstein and he wasn't required to be present. Austria smiled as he set the note down. The House of Liechtenstein… they had loyally-served him and his Habsburgs ever since at least the Thirty Years' War; he didn't know where he'd be without him. They were so tightly intertwined that it was difficult for Austria to think of previous Habsburgs _without_ also thinking about some of the many Liechtensteins that had faithfully-served as advisors to his royal house for all these long years; Anton Florian was one of many in the long Liechtenstein history.

With the note removed from the main space in front of his desk, Austria picked up the week's itinerary that had lain beneath it and he perused through both yesterday's and today's planned work to see what he'd ignored and what he _should_ get done to be caught up with everything. But what was Charles meeting with Anton for again today? He scanned down the list and at around nine for this morning his eyes first caught the word 'Furstentum' (3) before anything else. Focusing his entire attention upon that one word, he read and remembered now that Anton Florian had Schellenberg and Vaduz, his family could be part of the Reichtag and today, Charles was going to consolidate the fiefdom, the county, and the rest of the Liechtenstein family's hereditary lands into one under the title of Furstentum and name it Liechtenstein "in honor of his most faithful servant", allowing the head of the House of Liechtenstein the new title of Prince.

He couldn't believe it. After all this time of wondering what his and Hungary's child was going to represent and it had all been happening in plain sight. Their child was going to be _born_ a principality! Hungary had been one briefly before she'd become a kingdom, but even _she _wasn't born as one. In retrospect, Hungary's diet suddenly made a whole lot more sense. Schellenberg and Vaduz were surrounded by both him and Switzerland and weren't too far from the northern Italian population either. Liechtenstein. Whether a son or a daughter, their child was Liechtenstein, their shining stone. Austria didn't know if he could get anything done in the two hours he had to wait before the new Furstentum was born.

()()()()()()

_Knowing_ that he had two hours to wait before his child was born was the absolute worst distraction that Austria had ever encountered which is what had led to him now sitting outside the closed door with Italy and encouraging the youth to talk about the pianoforte some more. Representing the whole of the northern Italian communes and city-states, Italy would be able to easily draw on information from sources that Austria would not have access to unless he specifically communicated with the individuals that Italy was pulling his information from. That was one of the very _few_ nice things about being nations: their potential knowledge was as extensive as that of the people who lived within their boundaries, no matter their class or religion. Unfortunately, such a discussion could not _possibly_ drown out Hungary's pained shrieks and it didn't help that Italy flinched and jumped in his seat every time, which only served to emphasize the moments.

"I don't like this Papà," Italy said miserably and covered his ears to block out the noise in vain, "Mamma sounds like she's _dying_ in there!"

"Don't be so overdramatic, Italy. Hungary's not a human, she can't be killed in childbirth and nothing can go wrong with the delivery either," Austria said with a sigh.

He kept telling himself these facts because they were true, so it was pointless to worry, yet despite his logical reasoning, his emotions were still getting the better of him and trying to make him second-guess these long-lived nation truths.

"Italy, where's your brother?" Austria asked.

"I don't know, I've been outside this room for most of the morning, so I haven't seen him yet," Italy replied with a shrug.

"I see…" Austria said slowly and resumed his blank staring at the opposite wall.

He'd really only asked for conversation's sake, but he'd never been good at making conversation, especially not in moments like these when it was simply an excuse to help pass the time. He didn't know how much more time was left until Liechtenstein was born, but he refused to pull out his watch and check. It would only make the time seem to pass that much slower. Infernal device. He was better off without it. The sun's position was a more reliable clock anyway; his vater had at least succeeded in teaching him that much. It did not surprise him at all when he heard Italy murmuring a prayer under his breath moments later. Austria didn't bother to inform him of the futility of praying for Hungary's safety and good health during the delivery, because the words were soothing his own frazzled mind. He had difficulty understanding the Latin words that his Italian charge had no trouble reciting. He had once known the language as well as any of the others he was fluent in, but save for the Church, the usage was falling out of use in favor of French. But it did not matter that he did not know the language so well anymore, for it was merely noise to him now. Noise that was fluid and verbally incomprehensible, like music. He focused on listening to Italy's voice and hearing the sound, rather than the words he spewed out at a rapid rate in prayer to the Virgin Mary and whatever other saint would hear him.

Then suddenly, his heart gave a sharp, painful squeeze and he gasped. Not even a second later, it released and he grimaced uncomfortably as new blood suddenly surged from his heart and throughout his body like rapid waterfall. The amount of blood suddenly rushing through him was very numbing and he scrunched his eyes shut as if that would help eliminate the dull, throbbing pain. Very vaguely, he remembered having felt like this before at least once. His blood flow was starting to slow down and the numbing sensation dying along with it, so now he could think properly. The last time… Austria put his face in his hands and combed his long and extensive memory in search of this familiar feeling. He jolted upright! He finally had it! The last time he had experienced such a feeling that he could recall was when Holy Rome was born, a blood relative. That could only mean…! He suddenly realized that Italy was poking his arm repeatedly.

"Papà! Cosa fai tu? Il bambino è nato, non puoi sentirlo?" (4) the youth said with a worried expression on his face.

"Io sono sano, Nord Italia," (5) Austria replied automatically as he pushed Italy's fingers away, but he heard it too now that his heart rate was back to beating at a normal rate. The sound of a newborn crying.

"Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Theb aby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby's alive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive !Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Theb aby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby'salive!Thebaby's alive!Thebaby'salive!" Italy repeated hysterically with vigorous shakes to Austria's arm.

"Italy, patience," Austria said firmly, gripping Italy's arms in an attempt to get him to at least stop shaking like a leaf in a strong gust of wind, "Southern Netherlands will let us come in when she's done which can take up to another half-hour.

"Ahhhh," Italy whined as he sunk back down to the floor and started making imaginary drawings of music notes while Austria watched and memorized the music that Italy was currently 'writing' so that he could play Italy's fun little tune later.

Compared to the hours of waiting for the birth, it seemed that no time at all had passed when the door _finally_ opened and Southern Netherlands peered out at them in the corridor, looking disheveled and a little tired with some blood around the sleeves and on the apron of her dress, but smiling happily nonetheless.

"Gefeliciteerd. Glückwünsche. Félicitations," (6) she said in Dutch, German, and French respectively, her three native languages. "Everything went well and you're a father now, Austria. Come on, come see your new baby," she said with a slight laugh as she grabbed his hand and pulled him inside, allowing Italy to follow before closing the door behind him.

Her doing this though made the room incredibly dark because all the drapes were drawn closed and there was no light save for the embers burning in the hearth fire where he could just make out Hungary's outline. She was on the ground, but sitting up and likely nursing their baby. _Their _baby. Liechtenstein. Austria saw her head turn from looking down to looking at him and Italy and he was sure she was smiling; he could hear it in her voice when she spoke.

"Austria! Italy! Come closer, I can't see you two so well from all the way over there," she mock-reprimanded.

Italy was like a blur of color as he rushed over to Hungary's side (Austria proceeded at a much more dignified pace) and knelt down beside her, his copper-brown eyes wide with excitement and joy, "I was so worried Mamma, I thought you were going to die!"

"Oh, Italy, you know it would take more than that to kill me," Hungary chided as she fondly parted his bangs to the sides of his head.

"So Mamma, do I have a new fratello or sorella?" Italy asked eagerly as he stared down at the tiny, _tiny_ infant nation wrapped in old blankets and already sleeping quietly in Hungary's arms.

Hungary looked up at Austria who had knelt down beside her next to Italy and she smiled warmly at him, looking more radiant than ever before. It was directly to him that she said, "It's a girl."

Italy squeaked in delight. "A girl, it's a girl! She's so cute, Mamma, just like I knew she would be! She's so carina! _Carina_! Una bimba carina! (7) I know! From this day onward, she'll be my little sister and I'll be her big brother! Oh wow! I've never been a big brother before, I'm so excited! Mamma, Papà, I'm gonna go find Romano and tell him the good news; he'll want to see our new sorellina (8) too!" And just like that, Italy was up and gone from the room, with nothing but the open door left in his wake (Southern Netherlands was quick to close it again, but not before leaving with some of the soiled linens).

With Italy out there running like wildfire and having Prussia for an older brother, it would not be long before the news spread around Europe that Austria's and Hungary's baby was born even if she did represent the tiny Principality of Liechtenstein. He wanted to be irritated at Italy for being unable to keep his mouth shut for even a day since Liechtenstein was no-one's business but his and his family's, but he found he couldn't. Not today anyway. Austria turned away from the door and sat himself down on the floor beside his lover, staring silently at the tiny bundle of blankets with a confusing mixture of apprehension and joy. He… didn't know what to do.

"Did you ever find out what she is, szerelmem?" Hungary asked with a soft smile.

Austria nodded, still unable to take his eyes off the baby. "Yes. She is the Principality of Liechtenstein."

"Aha, Vati's little princess," Hungary said with a slight laugh and drew their daughter closer, "Liechtenstein, my darling daughter, you shall live a very different life from that of your Mutti and Vati (9) when we were children. You're a born Principality, Liech. Even _I_ wasn't born with such a high rank. Austria, do you want to hold her?"

The question caught him completely off-guard. "What? I, well- That is, uh… what if I hurt her? She's so tiny, I'm afraid I'll break her if I even touch her…" Austria trailed off, looking slightly worried.

"Oh, Austria, don't be silly," Hungary chided him the same way she had to Italy earlier with a hint of a playful smirk, "I've been holding her for less than an hour and she hasn't broken yet. Besides, I've seen you handle far more delicate and less precious things. I know you'll be careful. Just be sure to support her head; her neck's not strong enough to hold it up yet."

Hungary had slowly risen to her knees and twisted around to optimize the transfer of the baby nation from her arms to the father's and Austria was completely speechless as Hungary placed their Liechtenstein into his arms and he cradled the baby against his chest. For Austria's sake, she tried not to laugh, but he was just so adorable and happy and terrified all at the same time as he held their Liech as though she was a priceless, irreplaceable treasure.

And she was. She was so tiny and fragile like a songbird, and it would be so easy to hurt her by accident. Most human babies born this small often didn't survive, but Liech would because she was a nation. But it wasn't her nation heritage that made her irreplaceable, she was his baby and not in the same way as the Habsburg children. They were his, but they were not _his_. He had held infants before, but in his arms now was his own precious child. His daughter that need not worry about family inheritance or marrying into a good family to do well in life and in that moment, he saw so many opportunities for his little girl. She was limited by what she would be able to do since she was a nation, but there were so many other opportunities awaiting her that would _never _have been accessible to her if she was a human, and he and Hungary would raise and teach her the way they felt best to become a nation that would best be able to handle a changing world and do well for herself, even if she never became self-sufficient. It was impossible for countries to rely completely on themselves for _every_thing they needed, but if they could teach her how to handle such needs, then Austria would consider his daughter's teachings a success.

So many futures, and this precious baby Germanic nation was _his_. His to love and to cherish with all his heart, to lead out of danger as best he could, and to protect her with all his might, because he was her father and he loved her and he knew he would do just about anything for his daughter. Was this feeling what they called a father's love? This was all that Austria was consciously aware of as he gazed down at his daughter's sleeping face, but there were so many more emotions. Emotions both warm and light that he couldn't even begin to describe, but it only made Liechtenstein all the more precious to him. Did his vater experience these same emotions when he and his brothers were born? It seemed so unlikely… So intent was he upon the tiny child in his arms that he didn't even notice that he was crying until he felt Hungary's hand on his cheek wiping the tears away and she was laughing lightly as she did so.

"My dear Austria, you're so cute when you get like this," Hungary teased, "You're acting like you've never held a baby before."

Austria smiled at her through his tears, taking her teasing good-naturedly, "She's so beautiful and perfect, Hungary, just like her mother. But she's also so young and so impressionable; I fear the worst for her, liebling. It's not easy being a nation."

"Nobody ever claimed it was, love, but worry not. I'm still here with you to raise her and I'm not planning on going anywhere for a long time yet. Now would you please stop crying? It's embarrassing," Hungary snickered, the serious moment having passed them over.

"I can't seem to stop," Austria protested hopelessly, "but we can give Liechtenstein her human name while we wait for Italy to bring back Romano and probably every other nation living here. Remember, we decided that you would pick her first name and I would provide a possible surname in case she… can't use mine for whatever reason."

Hungary frowned slightly. "That's a depressing thing to say; that there may be a day where it would be impractical for our daughter to use your last name."

"The future of a nation has always been an uncertain thing," Austria said with a grimace, repeating the exact same thing he'd told her when he'd first brought it up.

"I know, I know," Hungary sighed and said, "If our Liech had been born a male, I was thinking of naming him Albert after the man that brought us living together in the same house for the first time, Albert II."

Austria smiled a little at that. He remembered those years very well because of how happy he'd been living with Hungary, even though everyone, including herself, had thought she was a boy at the time. Only when she had gone had he realized how much he'd missed her and had made it part of his governmental policy for centuries to get her back living with him. In retrospect, it was probably during that time that he started falling in love with her, but he _certainly _didn't know it at the time.

"But because Liech is a girl, I want to name her Elise, after Elisabeth," Hungary said with a self-assured nod.

"Which one?" Austria asked with a wry smile. There were so many Elisabeths all over Europe. And Marias too.

"One of yours, the one who married the French King Charles IX," Hungary replied.

Austria raised an eyebrow in amusement. "You mean the one who was, in turn, named after Saint Erszébet of Hungary?"

"The very same," Hungary confirmed without shame. "Both girls were very sweet and caring to a fault, and as precious to me as our baby Liechtenstein," she said as she leaned against Austria's shoulder and peered down at the newborn. "So what shall her alternative last name be, kedvesem?"

"It didn't actually come to me until just now," Austria confessed, "but seeing her right now for the first time, it suddenly came to me. I want her last name to be Vogel."

"Vogel?" Hungary repeated, "It means 'bird' in your language; why do you want to choose that for a last name? It's certainly not a common name by _any_ stretch of the imagination."

"Look at her, Hungary. She's so tiny and frail and completely dependent on us; a new song to add into our two-part harmony."

"You are such a poet, kedvesem," Hungary teased.

"No, I'm a musician," Austria corrected.

"And both are artists," she added as she nuzzled even closer to her lover and reached out to gently lay her fingertips against the baby principality's cheek. "Furstentum Liechtenstein…" she murmured softly, "With your birth, we now begin the creation of our family's three-part harmony."

There was a light knock on the door and Southern Netherlands's voice echoed from outside, "Austria, Hungary, I'm coming back in. Also, Italy's back and he brought Romano with him."

The door slowly opened and Southern Netherlands came in first, giving the two of them a quick lookover to be sure everything was sound before letting the two Italian nations enter first Italy and then Romano.

"Mamma! Papà!" Italy whisper-shouted as he fast-walked over to them, "I found Romano to show him our new sorellina! Look-see fratello? Isn't she the cutest?"

Romano was by now standing next to his little brother and peering down at the baby nation and it was a testament to how adorable she was that he did not even bother yelling at his brother for saying such wussy things or even appear to acknowledge him save for a jerky nod. He was completely silent for a good long minute, his lips pressed firmly together as though he didn't trust himself not to swear in front of the infant if he opened his mouth.

However, when he did open his mouth, his words were completely clean, despite his acute embarrassment as he quietly asked, "What's her name, Mr. Austria?"

"Her name is Liechtenstein, Romano, but we'll probably end up calling her Liech most of the time as a nickname," Austria answered.

"Oooh, Liechtenstein!" Italy cooed and leaned against Austria's other arm so that he could look at the baby better, "Can I hold her, Papà?"

"Not unless you can prove that you can go a week without breaking something," Austria said instantly, having this sudden horrifying image of Italy dropping his little girl the way he did with the dishes and other things sometimes. "The same goes for you too, Romano," he added shortly because if he thought Italy was bad about breaking things as a child, then Romano had been ten times worse.

Italy looked a little sad at his request being turned down (though he brightened up quickly again with just one look at Liech) and Romano looked a little more sulky and grumbled some incoherent Italian under his breath, but otherwise did not protest. At least they were aware of their tendency to break things and didn't want that to happen to Liechtenstein too.

"Excuse me, everyone. Post-birth midwife stuff happening now," Southern Netherlands said suddenly as she came over and knelt down in front of Hungary, staring at her intently. "How are you feeling, Hungary? Be honest."

"Well, if I must be _honest_," Hungary started with a teasing grin, "I'm sore, tired out, and hungry, but very… _very_ happy. Euphoric even."

Southern Netherlands smiled reassuringly, "That's good. I'll see what I can do about getting you some food, but you're definitely going to need a nap today. For at least the next week though preferably the next month or so, I recommend that you take it easy and not overwork or overstress yourself, alright? Midwife's orders."

"If you say so Snether," Hungary allowed with a mock reluctant sigh.

"Excellent. Now…!" she declared as she stood up, "if there's nothing else, I shall take my leave and get along with cleaning up in here. You can leave this room if you want, though I wouldn't considering it's probably one of the warmest in the entire palace right now…" Southern Netherlands said with a tinge of envy in her voice and made to leave.

"Actually, there is something that I would like you to do for me, if you're up for it," Austria said suddenly, a thought just occurring to him. The blond woman turned slightly, her expression expectant. "I would like you to find Charles and inform him of Liechtenstein's birth. He should know what to do, but if he doesn't, have him summon Anton Florian von Liechtenstein if he's not already with him and tell him that this order is from me. Anton Florian already knows about us, so it won't be too much of a shock for him, but he still needs to be made aware that his new principality composed of the Liechtenstein hereditary lands now has a human personification that he is at least partially responsible for."

Southern Netherlands gave a smile and an amused nod. "I'll see that the message gets passed along," she agreed and left the room whose remaining occupants were the little multi-national family all fawning over the tiny new Principality of Liechtenstein.

* * *

_(1) __Königreich Böhmen (German) – Kingdom of Bohemia_

_(2) __České království (Czech) – Kingdom of Bohemia_

_(3) Furstentum (German) – Principality_

_(4) Pap__à! Cosa fai tu? Il bambino __è nato__, non puoi sentirlo? __(Italian) – Papa! What are you doing? The baby is born, can't you hear it?_

_(5) Io sono sano, Nord Italia (Italian) – I'm fine North Italy_

_(6) __Gefeliciteerd. __Glückwünsche. Félicitations (Dutch/German/French) – all of them mean 'Congratulations'._

_(7) __Carina_! _Una bimba carina (Italian) – Cute! A cute [female] baby_

_(8) sorellina (Italian) – little sister_

_(9) Mutti/Vati (German) – Mom/Dad_

_Adorable little baby Liechtenstein! ! ! ! XD Omigosh, she's the cutest thing ever!_

_Now for more history and other stuff:_

_ Alright, so a luthier is a person who makes/repairs stringed instruments (and this includes violins) and most of the best of them were Italian, so I'd imagine that Austria would have an affinity for the creations of the one famous luthier that was Austrian. The bock is basically bagpipes and Hackbrett is the German word for a hammered dulcimer (which is kinda like a big xylophone)._

_ And Bohemia…! You know, I think this is the first time I've actually written her in a scene rather than just mentioning her in passing. She's kinda stuck-up because she was born as an Empire and when you start out your life as an empire, I'd imagine that puts a bit of a chip on your shoulders (and I would say that she and Austria have a push-pull kind of relationship). I figure that Bavaria is her brother to some degree because both the word Bavaria and Bohemia derive (at least in part) from the tribal Boii, a Celtic group that was living in the area._

_Aha! I finally explained how Liechtenstein would be born in 1719 even though the Liechtenstein family has been around for longer! I'm happy that I finally got to mention that because it ties up a few other possible nation questions very nicely if they don't necessarily have to be born the very day that something related to what they will be is created. Oh, and just like the last time I created Italian sentences, I made them all myself with only limited use of Google Translate, and I'm very proud of myself for having done so. _


End file.
